Tag: Staff Directory WordPress Plugin

Business experts have successfully proven that people often tend to buy from those they know, like and trust.

Are you searching for inexpensive ideas to grow your business online? Then something you can do, is help visitors get to know, like and trust you and your organization better.

Adding a directory of staff to your site can help to generate more trust, boost your credibility online and get interested prospects contacting you.

In this step-by-step tutorial, you are going to learn how to easily create and add an easy-to-maintain list directory of staff members in your site without messing with code.

WordPress Plugin Tutorial: Adding An Employee List Directory To Your Site

In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a no cost plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List)

Simple Staff List is free and lets you easily display basic information to visitors about your staff on your site.

First, let’s install and activate this plugin.

Log into the WP admin and navigate to Plugins > Add New …

(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)

In the Plugins panel, search for “simple staff plugin”. This should bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.

Click on Install Now …

(Plugins  – plugin search results)

Click on Activate Plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After your plugin has been installed and activated, you will see that a new menu will appear on the main WordPress menu section called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

All of the settings for this plugin are configured and managed in this menu.

How To Configure The Simple Staff List Plugin

Depending on the size of your business and how you want to structure your directory, you could begin adding new staff member details at this point, or create various groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual employees.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s configure your groups. From your WordPress dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

This takes you to the Groups settings screen …

(Groups section)

Note: Setting up groups is just like setting up categories in WordPress …

(Groups work like WordPress categories)

Create new groups by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your group category name
2. Slug – Enter the URL-friendly version of your group category name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
3. Parent – This section lets you set up a directory hierarchy
4. Description – Type in a group description
5. Click Add New Group when done to create your new group …

(Groups area)

If you work with a medium to large organization, having the ability to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for partners, project teams, faculties, etc.

Create as many groups and nested groups as you need by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to build a directory hierarchy …

(Nested groups)

Remember to click on the Add New Group button after entering new items …

To edit or reassign Groups for a specific item, hover over a category title and click on the Edit link …

The selected category details will display in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent group from the Parent drop-down menu …

(Edit Group settings)

Click Update to save your changes …

To change the Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and click on the Quick Edit menu feature …

Click Update Group to save your changes …

Continue adding group names in this section until you are done creating your directory structure …

You can add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested groups)

After you are done setting up your groups, you can begin to add names to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

From your WP admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New …

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

This brings you to the Add New Staff Member area …

(Add New Staff Member settings screen)

This screen provides an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member profile and includes the following fields:

Name Section (1)

• Name: Your employee’s name
• Slug: You can modify the slug associated with your staff member if required (you will see this section after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo of your staff member

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Add the person’s role
• Email: Type the person’s email address
• Phone Number: Enter the person’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Enter the staff member’s Facebook address here (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Enter your company’s Twitter username (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Add a profile description for your staff members here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can use HTML into this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: This section lets you assign the person to a specific group (see the previous section to learn how to set up your groups).

If you click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options tab)

You can enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

Now that you know what each section does, enter your staff member’s details …

(Add Staff Member fields)

Once you have entered details, assign the new entry to a directory group in the Groups section located in the sidebar …

(Groups feature)

Note: If you did not set up directory groups before adding staff member details, you can add a new group by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

A field will appear allowing you to create a new group name, with a drop-down menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new group and click on Add New Group …

Your new directory category will be added. Remember to tick the check box to assign an individual to the group …

(New group)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when new employee details are being added or modified. To edit a group item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).

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After entering the person’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

To make changes to the employee’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the WordPress admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

For a detailed step-by-step tutorial on using the dashboard admin toolbar , go here:

• Your WordPress Dashboard Explained

Note: If you have set up groups and get ’page not found’ errors like the one shown below, check that you have correctly configured your site permalinks …

(Not found error? Check your permalinks)

If you need help setting up WordPress permalinks, see this step-by-step tutorial:

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

Continue adding more entries to your employee or member directory until done.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

Once you are done adding staff details into your directory, you can view and edit details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on your main admin menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table of all your staff members and their details …

(Staff Members details table)

If you need to make changes to individual entries, hover your mouse over their name, and a submenu will appear.

Click on Edit if you need to update their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a member from the directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …

(Edit Staff Members profile)

Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your list can get quite long.

You can use the Search Staff Members search box to locate a member if required …

(Search Staff Members search field)

The plugin also allows you to specify which fields can display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab …

(Staff Members Screen Options tab)

Selecting a checkbox displays the field and unchecking a box hides the field. You can also specify how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when finished to update your preferences …

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order that your employees appear on your directory page.

Select Staff Members > Order on the main admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To reorder your listings, click and drag the entry to the desired location …

(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered list entries)

Once you have added all of your staff listing details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory display on your site.

Staff Members – Order

The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order in which listings display on your directory page.

Select Staff Members > Order on your dashboard menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the item to the new location …

(Rearrange staff listings using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered list)

Once you have added all of your employees’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to add the directory to your visitors.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The plugin also lets you edit the layout and style of your staff directory listings using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

To customize the style and layout of your staff directory, select Staff Members > Templates from the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This brings up the Templates page …

(Customize your directory template)

To customize your directory listings, reorganize any of the allowed template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.

For example, below is the default template used for displaying listings …

(Default Simple Staff List Template)

The The code shown above displays your listing as shown below …

(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template Listing)

Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above listing. To display these fields, we will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template, as shown in the screenshot below …

(Use template tags to customize your directory page)

Here is what your directory will now look like …

(Directory with social media URLs added)

Note: If you want to customize how your staff directory looks but don’t want to mess with CSS styles and template tags or are unsure of what to do, please contact us for assistance.

Usage Menu

As well as being able to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.

In your menu, select Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This brings up the Usage page …

(Usage Shortcode screen)

This screen lists all different shortcode variations allowed by the plugin.

For example, a useful variation you can add to your page to display only members of a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”sales trainers”])

You can also make your listings display in ascending or descending order by using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).

Options Menu

Select Staff Members >Options on the menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This opens the Options screen …

(Options settings)

This section lets you modify labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title

You can also export your staff members info from the Tools > Export menu …

(Export Staff Members information)

If you need plugin help or support, go to the plugin plugin website.

Additional WordPress Plugins For Creating Employee Directories

Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use to build a directory of your staff in WordPress. Here are a few other plugins you can check out:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory)

This plugin helps you collect your team information and showcase it anywhere on your site in beautiful grids, columns and tables. This premium plugin features over a dozen presets and provides editors that make it easy to edit and update your directory.

(Modern Team Staff Directory – Responsive Templates)

For more details go here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

With Staff Directory, you can easily display a list of faculty/team/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, schools, etc.

You can also add custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory website)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory)

Faculty And Staff Directory was developed to provide a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college or university.

The plugin also installs a widget that allows you to feature a profile in a widget area.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory

Company Directory

(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

The Company Directory plugin lets you easily add your employees to your site. Different layouts are included, including list and customizable single views, plus as fields like job title, email address, phone number, pic and member bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.

Visitors can click through from your list, grid, and table views to read more about each employee in a customizable single view …

(Display your staff and faculty in an easy to view format. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

This plugin also uses simple shortcodes.

To learn more about this plugin go here:

• Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)

Employee Spotlight displays team members, partners or just one individual member of your team in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.

With Employee Spotlight, you also get two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, and two responsive views which adjust to the screen in the viewer’s device.

Detailed information about  each faculty member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …

(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot source: plugin website)

Learn more here:

• Employee Spotlight

Staffer

(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)

Staffer uses custom post types for staff management and supports the display of staff members via a shortcode, allowing you to easily create and manage an onsite employee directory …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer website)

Staffer works with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.

More info:

• Staffer – Plugin For WordPress

If the above plugins aren’t what you’re looking for, search the WordPress plugin directory or go online and search for:

• Add Staff Directory To WordPress
• WordPress Staff List
• WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
• Staff Plugin WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, this tutorial has helped you learn how to create and add an easy-to-update directory of employees to your site.

Images of models used to display fictitious staff members in this tutorial were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com

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